


Like a Duck to Water

by KitKaos



Category: Hyde (Musician) - Fandom, L'Arc~en~Ciel
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-18
Updated: 2011-07-18
Packaged: 2017-10-21 12:44:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/225296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KitKaos/pseuds/KitKaos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hyde can't swim - but he doesn't have a choice</p>
            </blockquote>





	Like a Duck to Water

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, the subject had been part of many a conversation with a good friend, but the initial plan was to turn it into a picture... Anyway, I hope you'll have at least half as much fun reading this little one-shot as I had writing it. :)
> 
> And just as a note: I sure as hell don't own any of L'Arc~en~Ciel or any of the people connected to them, or I wouldn't be sitting here. And I don't make any money with this. The translated lyrics are from the late centigrade-j.com, to give credit, where credit is due. Guess that's all. On to our feature presentation...

'This is embarrassing!' Hideto Takarai thought to himself, looking around unseeingly. 'What am I doing here?... I want to stay here watching you smile forever, I want to live each changing moment in your eyes...'

Actually he didn't want to stay, quite on the contrary! Still, a small smile played across his lips. Almost like from out of nowhere, he had unconsciously repeated the lyrics he himself had written not that long ago, the lyrics to Tet-chan's bittersweet melody, the lyrics to _Hitomi no Jyuunin_. It was a beautiful song, true.

But at this very moment it was nothing but some kind of displacement activity!

This should have been a memorable day: he regularly forgot lyrics, whether that was at the studio, at concerts or shows didn't matter. But - and he prided himself on this fact - he had become rather creative at thinking up lyrics he could sing instead. And _Hitomi no Jyuunin_ was no exception to this rule.

But that didn't matter now! Hyde vehemently pushed all these pleasurable thoughts to the far back of his mind, so he would be able to concentrate on the task at hand, as much as he hated it. But he wanted to get it all over with as soon as possible.

He didn't like to be embarrassed in front of other people. Of course, he wasn't nearly as close-mouthed about his errors and flaws for fear of embarrassment as Tet-chan, or as reserved as Yukki, but that didn't mean he liked making a fool of himself. He had done that often enough already! He just had to think back to that one _All Night Nippon_ interview and he could almost already feel the heat rise to his cheeks. He still remained of the firm conviction that they had put something in his champaign!

So how had he gotten here? Well, whoever 'they' had been back at _All Night Nippon_ , it was obvious now that his beloved Megumi was in on their plot to eternally embarrass him. She had made him go. She must have poisoned the food or something for him to agree to go!

Man, it was wet here! Not that Hyde didn't like water. He liked it a lot, for brushing his teeth, for a nice hot bath, for a cool drink in between songs at gigs.

But standing up to one's nipples in way-too-cold water, naked but for a pair of bathing trunks floating around one's thighs like some oddly-colored jellyfish and a pair of light pink water wings on one's upper arms, with a whole pack of annoying children surrounding him – that was something Hyde did not like at all!

Admittedly, one of the brats was his own, but at the moment he couldn't have cared less. His kid had wanted to learn swimming. Fine. He should have just gone and thrown the brat in – that would have been the quickest way anyway.

But Megumi had been against it. Instead, she had the child signed up for a swimming class – and her husband right along, when she found out that he couldn't swim. Of course Hideto Takarai had objected. He had objected and argued and wept and begged for dear life. The kid wanted to go swimming, why did _he_ have to come along?! Because it was embarrassing to not be able to swim. That was what Megumi got him to grudgingly agree with. Over dinner! Why couldn't she have waited until he had finished enjoying the meal she had cooked?! Damn that woman! What he had to go through for her!

T  
he next couple of days had been living hell. Somehow his bandmates had gotten wind of the whole affair. Now, the problem was that he had to see them daily, wasn't it?! And they just couldn't stop teasing him, could they?! They had even given him the light pink water wings as a present, neatly wrapped and packed in Doraemon wrapping paper. That had been the point that Hyde decided to do some more solo stuff again.

"Takarai-san? Is everything all right?" The swimming instructor had come over to him, a worried look on her young face. Kami, she was young! Hyde could have almost been her father. And yet he was now taking instructions from her like the rest of the class.

But he must have looked really out of it, he guessed. He had been so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't even noticed the noise around him subsiding, as the brats had started to more or less make their way to the other side of the pool. And now he had attracted the attention of that woman. All he wanted to do was go home. Please!

~*~

 _One week later:_

"What's the hurry, Doiha-chan?" Tetsu asked, an amused smile on his features despite the fatigue that was visible there after a whole long day of hard work.

Hyde busied himself with getting ready to leave. He still had to go get the brat from kindergarten before he could go swimming again.

Without pausing in his actions he looked at his bandleader, grinning mischievously. "Bet you'd like to know, hm?"

The teasing and bantering about him getting swimming lessons had continued all through the last days. Then, at one point, he had simply stopped telling the others about all of it. This proved to be the best method to almost shut them up on the subject, although he could see that all of them were curious as to what the situation was. And especially Ken had asked directly from time to time. Hyde hadn't told him, though.

The truth was that he'd only barely been able to contain the enthusiasm he had developed over the last few days. Once that instructor had shown him how to actually survive without those stupid water wings, swimming was a piece of cake. And he loved it! More than once it had been his kid who had had to remind him that he had family responsibilities to attend to and so had to come out of the water and all.

With a broad smile Hyde finished buttoning his coat. He nodded again at Tetsu, "See you tomorrow, Tet-chan!"

And without another word, he left for the pool.


End file.
